‘The use of the sexual device as a prop, in my mind, it made sense’ – Daniel Roberts explains his actions on Who Is America?

‘The use of the sexual device as a prop, in my mind, it made sense’ – Daniel Roberts explains his actions on Who Is America?

The founder of Youth Shooters America was pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen on the latest episode of the show

Daniel Roberts on Who Is America?

One of the people pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen on his new show Who Is America? has revealed he had no idea that he had been set up until after the episode aired on Showtime in the US.

Daniel Roberts featured in the most recent episode of the satirical series which sees the UK actor and comedian posing as various characters including Erran Morad, an Israeli anti-terrorism expert, and engaging with mostly high profile conservative figures.

Roberts is the founder of Youth Shooters America which, he says, “teaches and promotes youth shooting sports”. He was duped into believing Morad would school him in how to fight terrorism. At one point he got Roberts to bite down on a dildo in an effort to prevent himself from being beheaded.

Prior to the attempted beheading, Roberts said, “There’s something wrong with the culture that we can’t talk about being around guns.” Baron Cohen replied, “It is crucial to have the guns in the school?” and Roberts said, “Yes, absolutely. I agree with you.”

Roberts had previously been interviewed by Piers Morgan in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting in which 58 people died. Asked what he was going to do about it by Morgan, Roberts replied, “not much of anything, hopefully”.

Speaking to the New York Times, Roberts said he had no idea who Baron Cohen was and did not see the episode but was alerted to his appearance via a phone call from a friend.

He said the production company called him and said a group of Israeli special forces soldiers were shooting a programme about terrorism and how American’s defend themselves against terrorist. He said it sounded “legitimate”.

“I’ve always had a great amount of respect for the Israeli military,” he told the New York Times. “For me, it sounded like a perfectly legitimate opportunity to take advantage of a situation to be taught by people that I would regard as some of the best in the world with counterterrorism.”

He said there were moments during filming when he felt “extraordinarily uncomfortable”. However, he said the use of the dildo made sense to him in that moment.

“The use of the — what’s the polite way to describe this? — the use of the sexual device as a prop, in my mind, it made sense,” he said.

“Think about what they’re claiming: a last resort. You have one chance to do something, or you’re certain you’re going to die. That’s the scenario they’ve laid out. I don’t know many people, if they were completely honest, that they would say they wouldn’t take that opportunity to maybe, hopefully, grab one thing to maybe save their lives.”